Round Table
It was particularly with Punk, but also with Techno and its many mutations that small labels, independent shops and zines have historically played a decisive role in creating networks to bypass and counter the mainstream corporate world. These possibilities of autonomy have been undermined since the ruling class unleashed their mad dog, Jeff Bezos, onto the innocent populous. Cannibalism and same-day delivery overshadow our everyday existence, as does the dim green glow of hours upon hours of suggested playlists. Is there a back door out of this madness?

Dan Moss
A director and screenwriter, his first foray into film was a 50-minute documentary for BBC2 in 1992, when he was 13. He has since written, directed and produced one feature film and seven short films, along with a variety of music videos and online content. He has shot in locations across the world, including India, Italy and Uganda. He will show a number of shorts.

Dasa Raimanova
Dasa Raimanova, originally from Slovakia, is a freelance filmmaker, currently on a six months work placement at Deutsche Welle (DW) in Berlin.
Her documentary work explores socio-political topics, generally focussing on the stories of strong women. Dasa released her feature debut POLYLAND in 2017. She will be showing two short films.

Shut Up and Dance’s 1991 hardcore LP ‘Dance Before the Police Come’ was released at a time when the UK authorities were struggling to contain the massive explosion of raves. Thousands of people each weekend were playing a cat and mouse game with the police to party in fields and warehouses, and if the state was often outwitted by meeting points in motorway service stations and convoys of cars, it tried to keep the lid on the phenomenon by staging high profile raids. In 1990, for instance, an incredible 836 people were arrested at a Love Decade party in Gildersome near Leeds in the north of England.

Since then the global spread of Electronic Dance Music has generally been accompanied by the flashing blue light, the siren, and that moment when the music is abruptly turned off and the order given to clear the building. Indeed, let’s face it, the frisson of illegality has sometimes added a pleasurable edge to partying – the thrill of overcoming official obstacles just to get there, of getting one over on the authorities. And even the most mainstream of commercial club promoters like to pose as underground outlaws because they once got told to turn the music down by a man in uniform.

But police raids are serious business – often involving arrests which can lead to imprisonment, people losing their livelihoods and, in some parts of the world, social ostracism. People get injured, beaten and sometimes even killed. This article looks at a sample of police raids in recent times to get a sense of the current state of play between cops and dancers in different parts of the world. [Read more →]

The yearly Fuckparade was taking place again in Berlin on August 22 (2009). The gathering point was Revaler Strasse, where the 17 trucks were warming up for the parade. A part of this warm up were also the obligatory speeches. For this, the Fuckparade organisers invited Hans Cousto and Dr. Motte, whose talks can be seen here. They deserve some attention, especially what Motte had to say. [Read more →]